[r-man]

....My mission of exploration is well underway. So far I've checked out Deeply Vale, Pinfold Quarry, Harcles Hill, Troy Quarry, Kemp Delf and Lower Montcliffe Quarry.

Here's the lowdown so far:

1.Deeply Vale - rumours of a hard project line, didn't see it when I was there, but I'll go back.
2.Pinfold Quarry - The Mental Block is fun but easy, nothing harder than Uk5c, except maybe a dyno from the slot to the jug on the roof.
3.Harcles Hill - nice bit of rock, good V5/V6 eliminate on right arete.
4.Troy Quarry - Nice place, nothing hard on the needle (pictured), up to Uk5c, possibility of some good dynos. Possible arete project but needs cleaning and dry weather.
5.Kemp Delf - What? Why was this mentioned in the lancs guide? It's flooded! Does the water recede in summer?
6.Lower Montcliffe Quarry - Scope for 10-20 decent problems, needs some cleaning (shears, spade, brushes galore!), and one highball and extremely hard looking line (damp at the moment). Cheers for the tip off Dylan - I assume this is the quarry you were thinking of?

Here are a few possible lines at Montcliffe:



Top left and middle left is the highball line. About 5 metres high and very rounded! It's not in the guide and I don't think it's ever been climbed, but it looks awesome...
Top right is a nice looking slopey face, damp at the moment.
The boulders unfortunately aren't that big, but might just be ok with a sitstart.
Plus lots of short slabs and aretes.

And here's a pic of Troy Quarry, an impressive looking place...

http://ukbouldering.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=1
 
Not a bad haul for a couple of weeks exploration. But I'm still looking, so does anyone know any other possibilities in the Bolton area?  

And if anyone fancies helping me clean up some lines at Montcliffe, I'd appreciate it (though some of it may be a bit damp to climb right now). I'll even give you a spot if you want to try that highball line - it's looks a bit beyond me, even if I wasn't injured...  

[account_inactive]

Good work :D

That's the one that I was talking about!

The prow ting (water streaked) on the top left of your picture is the one thing that I'd abseiled down before.  From what I remember its a bit fuckin high.  Maybe with a few mats it would look a bit more reasonable.  A mate a used to climb with (Andy 'old school@ Kaye) lives 5 minutes from there.  He sometimes posts on cocktalk and works at Salford Uni (bin man or summat )  He would be you man to tackle that beauty.  If its still not climbed by the time I get back to Horwich I will look you up and we can go and do it :

[r-man]

Yeah, give me a shout anytime, same goes for anyone else that fancies a bit of south lancs bouldering - I'm not climbing at the moment cos of an injury, but I'm always up for a day out, a little spotting and a few photos. Plus I think I'll need help cleaning all this lot up!

...The plan is to put a website together eventually, so photos of people climbing, rather than blank bits of rock would be good!

Anyway, was driving down Chorley old Rd today and spotted another (!) quarry just next to the road. I investigated and got in an epic with some (many many) brambles. I bloody hate brambles. They left their mark. Saw a heron though, which was because the crag itself was completely waterlogged. I think it's the one in the lancs guide that says you'd need a raft. Some potential for bouldering, but that bit of rock was seriously wet. Then I realised it was all private fishing club property (I did wonder why the path I used seemed a bit overgrown) so I beat a hasty retreat. And I've still got a thorn in my thumb. Bloody brambles. My thumb is turning yellow.

And on a different note, I'll post some photos photos later, but today I checked out Lester Mill Quarry, and there are some really attractive lines. Again, some bramble cutting and top-out unearthing will be in order, though not as much as Lower Montcliffe, and probably a lot more problems too. Mostly slabs, a few actual boulders, and even a small cave. This place really should be visited more often, I kid you not!

I still hate brambles.

[r-man]

Lester Mill Quarry...



Quite a lot of problems, the majority being short slabs. Trees and brambles in the way, but a bit of cleaning should sort this out. Not sure how many really good problems there will be, as cleaning has a habit of unearthing holds that make things a bit easy, but there will definitely be an enjoyable little circuit.

The main quarry itself (top left) is completely overgrown, but around it are small bays. The photos show some of the best looking problems in these bays, including a tricky looking highball prow (top right), a bum scraping sitstart boulder (top and bottom),  a slab problem on an attractive pinnacle (middle), a hard sloper traverse (bottom).. Anyway, I hope to clean up a few of these problems soon, they look pretty worthwhile.

Any help would be appreciated! :wink:

[Petey]

If you're local to the area i recommend checking out tonacliffe quarry above whitworth - a small quarry with lots of soloable routes v diff to E2, but also a great little wall with the potential for plenty of eliminate problems - ive done stuff here up to about english 6c over the years - eliminates but good quality. Theres no point in travelling miles to go there but worth it if youre in the area...it needs a bit more traffic.

Also the boulders near Blackstone edge are pretty good - well right of the edge, near the trig point. Again worth exploring if you're in the area.

[r-man]

Tonacliffe eh? Cheers for that. Might check it out sometime - though it'll have to wait for a while as I have my hands full with Montcliffe and Lester Mill right now, plus it'll take me about 45min. to get there.

Heard a little about the blackstone boulders before, but nothing conclusive. How much is there to go at, and what sort of grade range?

[r-man]

Been exploring a bit recently. Anyone heard of Healey Nab? Found it on the O.S. map and there's a darn tootin sight more to do there than many of the Minor Crags mentioned in the lancs guide. Some nice looking problems, despite the lichen. That overhanging block at the top left has been chipped on one side, so people have obviously climbed here in the past. Think I might go back and do some cleaning next week, as it was all dry even though it rained all the time I was driving up there.



And I checked out Anglezarke as well. One wall looks really nice. This problem in particular:



It's the start to an E6 called Age Of Reason. Another one to add to my list of things to try when the tendon heals.  :roll:

[Ru]

I used to boulder quite a lot on that wall at Anglezarke. The start to the Age of Reason is quite good (the route is ok too - whack a couple of friends (I think) in the break above and the climbing to the top is ok if I remember)

There's a low traverse as well and the start to the E4 Sparrow just to the right is a good boulder problem too, to the first ledge.

[r-man]

Cheers, I'll check those out, especially that traverse. Could be good to work on when most other stuff is wet. How hard is it roughly?

...So did you used to live round here then? Know any other good problems not in Brownstones or the Wiltons?

[r-man]

Some stills:

Found another quarry over the weekend. Just North of Ramsbottom. The downside is that it's been used for tipping, so there's a load of rubbish. But on the upside, some of the problems are really excellent. Here's a short film of me falling off most of em. So, right click and save away:



More details here:

Stubbins Guide